mrpham's build

[mrpham]

Hey all.

My previous car was a Nissan S15, built for track and street duties. Served me well but I sold so I could get an RX-7. Well instead of doing that, I've invested the money and bought an MX-5 instead. Should keep me entertained for the next 6 months or so, that's when I'll hopefully get my rotary fix.

http://forum.jdmstyletuning.com/show...?26278-My-S15-)

My blog - http://omgpham.com/

Modifications so far:

• 1.6L Engine from the NB6 (solid lifters, cam/crank angle sensors, etc...)
• Extensively ported head
• 280 degree camshafts with 10.5mm lift
• Oversized valves
• Stronger valve springs
• Toda adjustable cam pulleys/gears
• HKS headers
• Toyota AE101 ITBs
• Garage Star/T3 ITB adapter
• T3 Velocity Stacks
• UNI filters
• Outwears filter booties
• Innovate MTX-L
• Relocated brake prop valve
• NB 5-Speed gearbox
• Lightened flywheel 3.5kg
• Cusco 1.5way LSD
• 4.778 diff ratio
• Every nut and bolt re-zinc plated
• Painted block
• MegaSquirt DIYPNP ECU
• Bluetooth ECU Connection
• Custom ECU mounting
• Toyota COPs
• CNC cut COPs bracket
• OBX dual feed fuel rail
• Aeromotive FPR
• Short shifter
• Custom wiring harness, body and engine
• FD3S RX-7 fuse folder
• Dedicated engine fuse/relay panel
• Flex-a-lite 16" thermofan
• 42 Draft Designs Catch Can
• GarageStar radiator cooling panel
• 52mm aluminium radiator
• MX-5 Plus custom exhaust
• Yellowspeed Racing coilovers
• Broadway Mirror
• Frame Rail Braces
• Low-Profile Headlights
• Garage Vary front lip
• Project-G Bikini Top
• Carbon fibre side mirrors
• Side Skirt Diffusers - http://omgpham.com/mx-5-miata-side-skirt-diffuser
• R-Package rear lip
• MX-5 Plus offset number plate bracket
• Genuine hard top
• Hard top brackets
• KG-Works cluster
• Vented front window
• Momo Team 280mm steering wheel
• Sparco Sprint V fixed back seat
• MX-5 Plus Tall Boy roll bar
• Whiteline sway bars
• Genuine strut tower brace
• Hankook RS-3 225/45/15 tyres
• OG-San 15x8 +25mm with 5mm spacers to make it +20mm

My blog - http://omgpham.com/

How she currently sits (page 9):

[mrpham]

Had all four guards rolled yesterday, so the inner lip is now flat. Work was done by FineFitment and I can definitely recommend them to anyone that needs some extra clearance for wheels.

http://omgpham.com/guards-rolled-wheels-arrived


Car jacked up ready for some guard work =)

Also took a quick photo of the MX-5 Plus exhaust, love the lobster tail TIG welding!



Guard roller mounted up ready for action.



Before and after shots of guard inner lip.

MY BRAND NEW WHEELS!!!!! Axis OG-San 15x8 +25

I ordered Axis OG-San wheels from JDMYard, they were by far the cheapest I could find. Email response was fast and shipped out the next day. Definitely recommend them =) . The Axis OG-San wheels are replicas of the SSR Formula Mesh, which are the replicas of some BBS wheels. I ordered them in 15x8 +25 gold finish.

For tyres, I've again chosen to go for maximum rubber instead (like my S15) of the stretched look. But I also wanted to avoid getting semi-slicks or R-Compound tyres for a car that I will most likely drive on a daily basis. So I decided on the Hankook R-S3 in 225/45 R15. These were hard to source in Australia and they sell for $335AUD, compared to $110AUD from TireRack in the US. After shipping and other fees, the tyres cost me just under $200AUD each landed at my door. Total saving of $540!!

[mrpham]

http://omgpham.com/wheels-tyres

Tyres finally arrived from TireRack in the US. Took a bit over a week because customs held it back for further inspections.... totally BALLS.

Quickly got them fitted up and installed on my MX-5 yesterday, first impressions were good but the alignment was all over the place. Had way too much toe and was crab walking all over the road. Turn-in was excellent though, steering is a bit heavier going from the 185 wide tyre to my new 225/45 Hankook RS-3 but still not too bad.

Today I got my alignment done at Rick's Wheel Alignments in Albion, I've been to these guys in the past and each time they have exceeded my expectations. Definitely recommend them =)

Aligned for mostly daily/hard parking with a bit of track work. Final alignment settings are:

Front

• Camber : -3.0 degrees
• Toe : ZERO
• Caster : 5.0 degrees

Rear

• Camber : -2.0 degrees
• Toe : ZERO

The 15x8 +25mm wheels are a very safe fitment, I could probably do with a 10mm spacer on the rear and 5mm spacer on the front.

And just some preview shots before I get some real photos taken.

[mrpham]

So a pretty big update =)

http://omgpham.com/valve-stem-seal-leak

After doing a cruise through Mt. Nebo, I had lost about 800mL of oil. There were no leaks so the oil simply burnt up in combustion. This is usually caused by old piston rings or valve stem seals.

A quick compression test showed all cylinders produced identical compression readings, this rules out piston rings as the cause. When valve stem seals leak, blue smoke is usually seen when you start the car up first thing in the morning. Oil slowly leaks past the seals into the cylinders overnight, then burns up as you start the car up. My MX-5 did something different though... Under engine braking/over-run, the crank case vacuum sucks oil past the seals. Then as soon as you step on the throttle again, huge amounts of blue smoke escapes from your exhaust.

Was thinking about blowing up my engine and putting a new one in, but did my research and found that it's fairly cheap to fix.
So here it goes =)

Firstly, I drained all the coolant and removed the top water hose as well as the intake piping. May as well remove the filter and air flow meter so you have more access to the exhaust manifold bolts. Everything was set to TDC, no need to though since the head is coming off.



Valve cover removed and showing the nice clean insides.



Cam pulleys removed and exhaust manifold un-bolted.



Camshafts and cam caps removed.



BOOOYAHHH! The head is off =)



I decided to keep the intake manifold on the head to make removal easier. But will be removed before I send it to the engine machine shop.

[mrpham]

Engine Out - http://omgpham.com/engine-out

After receiving my cylinder head back from Chilton Engineering, they informed me that my head was no good. The head tested too soft, which meant it overheated some time in the past, valve springs were damaged, valve seats were damaged. Pretty much scrap metal... To purchase a second hand head would cost around $500-$600, whereas buying an entire engine would cost $800 and also means I'll be replacing this "short nose crank" engine with a later model "big nose crank" engine. I obviously decided to go with a replacement engine =)

I was initially planning to remove just the engine and leave the gearbox in but this proved to be more difficult, so both engine and gearbox will be removed as a unit. The following had to be disconnected from the gearbox:

• neutral switch wiring
• reverse light switch wiring
• speedo drive cable
• clutch line
• Power Plant Frame
• shifter

While under the car, I also drained the transmission fluid so that it doesn't leak too much as we tilt the gearbox out of the engine bay.

Some photos now:

Bonnet removed to make it easier to work one.


Radiator and fans removed.


Exhaust headers removed.


Shifter removed revealing ripped shifter boot.


The damaged head... =(

[mrpham]

She's Heartless - http://omgpham.com/shes-heartless

Had some time today so went ahead with removing the engine out, I like to call it a heart transplant. Was a pretty straight forward process and easy enough to do by my self. Tried to take as many photos as I could remember, enjoy =)

Before I could start, had to remove the front lip because it couldn't clear the engine crane. Stupid ride height...



Chained up and slowly lift and tilt it out.



And it's out!!!!!


Once the engine was safely outside of the engine bay, I split the gearbox away from the engine. Once that ws done, I saw that the clutch was getting old so decided to replace it while everything was out.



Picked up a Exedy Heavy Duty clutch kit from NPC. Price was awesome and came with the clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing.

That's it for now, should be picking up the replacement engine tomorrow. Then more fun =)

[mrpham]

So instead of buying a replacement NA6 engine, I bought a NB6 engine. Still 1.6L but was taken from a JDM 2002 NB Roadster. Has solid lifters instead of hydraulic lash adjusters and makes about 10HP more, uses my original wiring etc... More details later.

[mrpham]

My New Engine... NB6 - http://omgpham.com/my-new-engine-nb6

Bought my replacement engine on Saturday from MX-5 Plus, but instead of picking up a regular 1.6L B6 engine from a NA6 I purchased a 1.6L long engine from the NB6. In Japan, the NB series Roadster (MX-5) had the 1.6L engine up until 2005. The cast iron block is identical, but the head and intake are different. The hydraulic lash adjusters are replaced with solid lifters and cams have more lift. The CAS is no longer used and replaced with a cam position sensor and crank angle sensor. The NB6 also uses the crank-shaft nose/pulley/cog, water pump and oil pump from the 1.8L BP engine.

To run the NB6 engine in a NA6, there are two options. First option is to swap the entire NB6 wiring and ECU into the NA6, the other option is to use the following NA6 items on your NB6 head/block.

• intake
• exhaust
• CAS
• rear water outlet
• front water outlet
• alternator (using the NB6 pulley)
• air con (if you have it)
• power steering (if you have it)

In addition to this, you will need a modified intake cam-shaft. The NB6 intake cam-shaft doesn't have a slot for the CAS, so the NA6 cam-shaft end is cut off and pressed into the NB6 cam-shaft. Pretty straight forward and costs $100 to do.

Now all that info is out of the way, here are some photos of my progress so far.

Showing the revised crank nose, difference between the short nose crank-shaft bolt (right) and the revised crank bolt.


Removing the old front seal, new front seal in. May as well replace all the seals and gaskets while the engine is out.



Removing the sump was a bitch because the baffle is bolted under the oil pickup, and this results in the sump being "stuck" until you seperate the baffle from the sump.


Brand spanking new water pump =)



Pulley boss attached, and most of the external parts attached.


Engine finally off the stand =)


New rear main seal in and flywheel on (nearly anyways).

[mrpham]

New Radiator - http://omgpham.com/new-radiator-stuff

After finding out my radiator was leaking, I ordered a eBay special China radiator. Bought one for my S15 and it was pretty decent, especially for under $200. I ordered the 52mm dual core aluminium design for a low low cost of $175 delivered to my door from Melbourne.

Test fitting it, a bit of squeeze because its 52mm thick. But so worth it =)

Also I took my valve cover and water outlets to get blasted at Chilton Engineering, they turned out looking brand new! Much better then paying over $300 for brand new items through Mazda.

[mrpham]

Meh.... so no real updates lately. Have been busy with holidays and business so all my money and time and gone into them. First world problems?

Only thing I've done is add a new sticker, visit Zen Garage and goto to the last JDMST/Downshift meet.

Zen Garage Visit - http://omgpham.com/zen-garage-visit
Downshift March 2012 Meet - http://omgpham.com/downshift-meet-march-2012
More photos by other people - http://omgpham.com/downshift-meet-march-2012-others

[mrpham]

GarageStar x T3 ITB Adapters - http://omgpham.com/garagestar-x-t3-itb-adapters

I've been a slacker... I've had my ITB parts for months now and yet to install them. Well today I've started pulling the AE101 ITBs apart to clean and possibly paint. I also took the adapter plate to Chilton Engineering, can never recommend them enough, and had them check it over to make sure everything was flat. Unfortunately, the side that bolts to the head wasn't very flat at all. This was concerning because there are water outlet/inlets on that side of the head and I didn't want to risk water leaking into the intake.

Photos below of the amazing looking adapter and the re-surface that Chilton did for me.

[mrpham]

Custom Wiring Harness - http://omgpham.com/custom-wiring-harness-part-1

I decided that since my car would be off the road for a month or two as I work on the engine, it would be a great chance to do a custom wiring harness for the car. This would mean the body and engine/ECU wiring harnesses would be separated and independent of each other. Try to keep it all as simple as possible, will be especially nice to have a dedicated harness for the Megasquirt =)

So I was lucky enough to pickup an entire wiring harness (body, main, power, dash) for a decent price and got started working on it.

I've stripped the following from the harness so far:

• All engine wiring
• Air Flow Meter
• Ignitors & coils (going COPs for the Megasquirt)
• IAC valve
• Purge valve
• O2 (going dedicated wideband)
• AC stuff
• Power-steering
• Clutch switch
• Neutral switch
• Fan switch (Megasquirt will control fans)
• probable more... can't remember

All engine/ECU related fuses and relays will be kept separate and located close to the ECU. The engine bay fuse/relay box will be made redundant and relocated under the dash as there will only be four fuses used at that location.

After a long day of peeling tape and cutting wires...


99% complete with the main harness, you can see the pile of tape and wires removed in this photo. Seems a bit excessive doesn't it?


This is the wiring kit from DIYAutoTune, pretty handy. Will be used for engine to ECU wiring.


I then spent the rest of the afternoon de-pinning the ECU terminals so I could salvage the pins to re-use. It sucks having a budget...

[mrpham]

ITB Clean & Paint - http://omgpham.com/itb-clean-paint

My ITBs were pretty dirty so I had them sent out to Chilton Engineering for some sand-blasting, got it all back today and they came out great! It was also recommended that I give the ITBs a coat of paint to keep them clean.

I picked up some VHT Primer Coat and Quick Coat in the aluminium finish, was considering painting them black but decided against it. Some clean silver aluminium will look spiffy in between the black adapter and velocity stacks.



Fresh from the sand blaster, so clean. Had to mask the ITBs again to get it ready for paint. VHT Primer Coat and Quick Coat in aluminium finish.


I was told a long time ago to always have spray cans dipped in hot water while you paint, apparently it gives a better spray or something. Don't know if it's true but it kind of makes sense.



Hanging out on the clothes line getting the primer coat sprayed on.


Primer coat all done!



Top aluminium coat lightly sprayed on, did a few "dusting" coats before I did a wet coat.



Top coats all done and left to dry.


All done!

Going to give it a week to completely dry before I start putting it all back together.

[mrpham]

Mate dropped off some Toyota COPs (Coil Over Plugs) for me today, going to use them with the Megasquirt instead of the factory ignitor/coils. Should be killer





We also tried out the Synchrometer on his ITB'd Daihatsu Mira Van, it's a fucking beast!

http://omgpham.com/synchronising-ians-itbs




It's a slightly tedious process because adjustments on one throttle body will affect the others, so it can take a few goes to get it right. Once the ITBs are synced though, the idle speed needs to be adjusted too, with Ian's car the idle ended up being higher.

[mrpham]

ITB Update - http://omgpham.com/itb-update

In my previous update I posted up about reassembling my ITBs. I had to use new screws to hold the throttle plates as the old ones were drilled out, they were replaced with socket cap screws but I was recommended to use something with a smaller profile head. I've now replaced the screws with button head socket screws.


The screws were also cut down so not much thread was left sticking out on the other side.

Spent some time over the weekend dialing up the ITB adjustment screws, still a few things to sort out and hopefully they won't cause issues down the track.



Stupid little adjusting screws, very tedious!


Finally received my FPR adapter piece for the M-Tunes fuel rail.


Gave the foot-well plate a good clean.